Personal Update: 600,000 Views, 450 Posts, and Ratchet Parking

The day after I published my post about hating straight white men, my blog reached 600,000 views – huzzah! This post itself acts as my 450th, and thus, I thought I would reward everyone and make their confidence as drivers increase indirectly by sharing a picture of my somewhat ratchet parking, from the folder on my computer titled “Ratchet Parking Compilation”:

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400 Posts, 4000 Comments, And Some Cool People

You win some and you lose some.

Go me! Or rather, go all of you! Today I reached 4,000 comments and noticed that my review of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan marked my 400th post. I was writing an overdue response to someone today and realized that I started this blog back in December of 2010, which means I’ve been active for almost three years now. I cannot convey how blessed I am to have this haven to return to whenever I wish, full of support and splendid people. If you care about anything statistic-related when it comes to blogging, I’d say comments count the most – just because they show an exchange of ideas, passion, and a plethora of other wonderful abstractions.

Personal Update: 400,000 views, 3,000 comments, and a Tidbit On Grammar

I had to screenshot this.

Hi everyone! This is just a quick little post to thank all of my readers for being radiant and splendorous individuals. Either last week or two weeks ago this blog got its 400,000th view and last week it received its 3,000th comment. I’m so incredibly thankful for everyone who’s taken the time to lurk or comment or stalk or spend any amount of time with my writing. Reading and responding to every comment widens my perspective, and I hope it enhances my readers’ as well.

Freshly Pressed: One Step Closer to Ruling the World

My inbox after being freshly pressed. And that’s only the first page, after deleting all of the “like” and “follow” notifications…

I planned my victory. Write a slightly controversial rant targeting America’s favorite past time, publish it under the guise of an innocently idealistic teenager, and sit back and watch the WordPress editors do their job. It was almost too easy. After two years of toiling away, I have finally won.

100,000 Views! And the Meaning of Love, Via Harper Lee

My friends and I were discussing whether saying the phrase "I love you" to a stranger could be considered creepy... I do not intend to be creepy here. Promise.

100,000 views! When I saw that statistic exactly two weeks ago, I was ecstatic. And I still am! It’s not that the views themselves matter that much, it’s more that all the effort I’ve put into this blog has accumulated into an actual, tangible result. Of course I don’t ever think that writing on this blog is a tedious task – trust me, I would write all the time if I could, as it allows me to learn more about myself as well as receive feedback from others. Thank you so much to all of my regular readers, especially those who comment! I appreciate lurkers too, as I know how busy this time of the year can be.

Speaking of business, I must apologize again for my not-so-regular posting lately! I have been swamped in schoolwork and studying for exams and being busy with other obligations – my views haven’t been taking too much of a hit, but I know that to keep readers and new followers interested I’ll need to blog more regularly than I have been. Which I will work on. I also should write more about pop, as I’ve been neglecting that lately. It’s too bad everyone is already aware of how awesome Adele is…

Now, on to love. Here’s a passage from Harper Lee’s beautifully-written essay on love, titled “Love–In Other Words.” I strongly recommend you read it, or at least this part:

Watch What You Say… And What You Post

A few weeks ago in AP Psychology my class and I were discussing human sexuality, and specifically, the fraternal birth order effect. It was an interesting and intellectual discussion, and one of the better ones we had had, until someone said:

“Oh my gosh, I have three younger brothers. One of them could be gay. That’s so depressing.”

Immediately I thought to myself,” Why is that depressing, huh? Just because one of your brothers has a slightly higher chance of being homosexual? Does that mean you would stop loving him? That’s so shallow, my goodness…”

Feed by Mira Grant (And Some Feminist Short Stories)

Cover via Goodreads.

5/5 stars.

Feed fractured my heart, and then broke it – so, of course, it deserves to be my first five-star book of 2012. It is definitely not your typical zombie story with sleazy action sequences and creepy cliches, but a wonderful mix of zombies, blogging, and politics.

The book takes place after the Rising of 2014, in which the cure to the common cold and the cure to cancer combined to form a virus that raised the dead. Several people were immediately infected and many more lost their lives during that initial outbreak. Now, twenty years later, Georgia and Shaun Mason are internet journalists devoted to seeking the truth at whatever the cost. When they are selected to follow the campaign of popular presidential candidate Peter Ryman, they may have their chance to do so as a twisted conspiracy threatens to take them under.

Taking a Trip to… Queer Landia

If you squint really hard you can see my name.

Hi guys! This is another FYI post, this time to inform everyone that I’ll be writing for Queer Landia. I described it to one of my friends as “a gay news blog which some other interesting tidbits thrown in”, and, it’s pretty neat. I recommend you check it out, as well as my first post on there.

Of course I won’t stop writing for this blog – this is my blog after all. Just wanted to let you guys know where I’ll be writing most of my posts about gays from this point forward. A big thanks goes to Mike, its founder and CEO, for inviting me to contribute and throw in my two cents every once in a while.

Now I’m going to go do homework… maybe write a book review… I know, thug life right here.

One Year Anniversary of the Quiet Voice!

Over half of these views probably came from searches for pictures of Enrique Iglesias and Key, but hey, I'm not complaining... actually, forget I said anything.

Over 80,000 views, 180 posts, and 100 subscribers! I am ecstatic. I won’t go into the sentimental stuff because I’ve done that before, but this blog means so much to me that I can hardly force my feelings into words.

I’ve changed a lot over the course of one year thanks to getting my thoughts out there and receiving insightful comments. I’ve stopped calling myself fat all the time, I’m controlling myself and not crying over B’s, and I’m feeling as if I’ve simply grown as a person. I hope my readers or people who have read some of my posts share this sentiment, because as much as I benefit from revealing all my deepest and darkest personal secrets for all to see sharing my opinions online, it would be nice to know that others have enjoyed what I’ve written as well.

Remember this post from about eleven months ago? Well, my bookshelf has grown…

Thanks for a wonderful year everyone! Let's make this next one even better.

Questions for My Readers!

So I intended to publish this post yesterday, but I couldn’t because I was busy pretending to have a life. I wanted to write this yesterday because – prepare to have your mind blown – there’s only six more days until this blog’s one year anniversary! Hallelujah! If I had published this yesterday I could have made it super climatic by saying “one week” as opposed to “six more days”, however, I’ll still make an awesome post about this blog and me and you guys and the color mauve on the 16th.

For now though, I have some questions I’d love to hear your responses to. The first four are the ones I am really curious about and the last one is more for fun (or for you to announce how much of a freak I am, that’s okay too). These are open to everyone, including my subscribers, readers, commenters, and anyone who happens to stumble by. Think of it like a survey… or whatever you want to think of it, really. Be completely honest and don’t hold back!

1. I like to think of my blog as a mix of three different categories – book reviews, commentaries on pop, and musings about life in general. Which of the three do you like the most? Which one would you like to read more of? Is there anything else you want me to blog about? I just realized I stuffed three questions into one. Oops.

2. What do you think of my writing style? Is it immature? Pretentious? Obese? I know that it varies depending on the subject of the post, but overall, what do you think of it? Remember to be honest – I’ll be able to learn more from constructive criticism than obsequious flattery.

3. Are there any general suggestions or improvements you want to make? If so, please leave them in the comments. I’ll reward you with my everlasting love. Just kidding, I already gave that to about 30 fictional characters…

4. What is your favorite post that I’ve written? Do you have more than one? You can mention least favorites too. I’ll understand – and proceed to go cry in a corner.

5. For those of you who don’t know me in real life, what do you think of my personality? How do you think I would act like in person? This is a random one. I’m curious though.

Thanks for taking the time to answer these, it really means a lot to me to get your feedback. Once again I’ll emphasize that I appreciate constructive criticism, but please don’t say things like “Thomas, your blog sucks. No wonder you have no friends.” That would just be repetitive.

So I've come to the conclusion that I suck at art. It's good that I can write decently... or can I?